


he floated in much the same way that bricks don't

by cactusWrites, zoe_ena



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-06
Updated: 2017-03-06
Packaged: 2018-09-29 23:14:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10146896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cactusWrites/pseuds/cactusWrites, https://archiveofourown.org/users/zoe_ena/pseuds/zoe_ena
Summary: Investigative Journalist Cecil figures out why his boyfriends wear lab coats all the time, and it was not at all what he expected.





	1. high sprits they had: gravity they flouted

**Author's Note:**

> So, I sort of lied when I said the Riverdale fic was my first fic ever. This was. Me and @zoe_ena started writing this thing three years ago, as a response to an absurd theory we had about why Carlos always wore his lab coats. Since then, lots of things have happened in the WTNV universe, placing this even more firmly in the Alternative Universe realm, but I think it's cute/silly enough to be worth posting regardless. Enjoy!

It was late afternoon and Cecil was relaxing on the bed, watching Carlos to get ready to go out to dinner. Carlos was standing with his back to him wearing his work-lab coat staring at the schematic outside the closet in which he kept all of his various lab coats. The business-casual ones, casual weekend ones, fancy dress party ones, work ones and so on. Carlos had different, distinctive coats for any opportunity, and they were all listed on a chart complete with various data points about each and every one of them. Carlos was a scientist, after all, and his dedication showed in every aspect of his life. It had surprised Cecil the first time Carlos and him fell asleep together that Carlos even had a lab coat dedicated for sleeping. Sure, it was a soft, flannel lab coat, but it was still a lab coat. “Science never sleeps”, Carlos had explained, before he had started rambling on about the particularly loud and, according to his calculations, late sunset that day. Loud sunrises were not very unusual in Night Vale, but the late sunsets were a rarer occurrence and thus of scientific importance. As if time mattered in this town.

Cecil wasn’t sure why Carlos was taking so long this evening in particular. They were just going to get a slice at Big Rico’s (no one does a slice like Big Rico’s, after all) for the fifth day in a row. Cecil didn’t even bother to put on his fuzzy pants for the Big Rico’s evenings, and so he didn’t really know why Carlos would have to do so many calculations before picking out a lab coat. Normally they would both be tired of going out so much by now and just stay in, make something nice to eat and watch a show, but neither of them felt much like cooking after the incident last week, where Carlos had accidentally mixed up his lab beakers and the fancy science-inspired kitchenware that Cecil had bought when they moved in together a month ago, because he was so into science these days. Carlos adding 100 ml of chili oil to his science experiment was bad enough; neither one of them wanted to think about what would have happened if it was the other way around… So Big Rico’s it was. Again.

But Carlos was hiding something, Cecil was sure of it. Why was he always wearing a lab coat? Not the same lab coat, no, but still a lab coat. All the time. When they went out to Big Rico’s, the Ralph’s, Mission Grove Park. Even while relaxing at home he would wear a lab coat. Though it was not the stereotypical white, these casual lab coats were patterned, with dots or stripes or beakers and test tubes. They were very cute, actually, and Cecil loved seeing Carlos wear them. But it was strange that he had never seen him _without_ one. So, being a something of an investigative reporter alongside his being a community radio show host, he set out to solve this mystery.

He had worked out some form of theory, and even asked the Faceless Old Woman if his theory was correct, and he wasn’t entirely sure if he received a Yes or a No, as all she had done was re-arrange the elements in the periodic table Cecil has bought for their new apartment. The metals were where the noble gases should be, none of the elements were in their correct atomic number order and Hydrogen was nowhere to be found, Carlos had said. While Cecil was very into science these days, it was more because of his handsome scientist boyfriend was the one doing the teaching. And chemistry, the way Carlos was teaching him was ways away from his understanding. Still he had learned about the scientific process and proceeded onto his next step.

Feeling unsure as to if his hypothesis of whether or not Carlos was hiding something was correct, he had contacted some of Carlos’ scientists while they were investing the House That Does Not Exist. And they confirmed that yes, Carlos did in fact wear his lab coat all of the time. But as that was the official uniform they’d been told to wear whenever they were conducting experiments of any sort when they first arrived in Night Vale those many months ago, it did not seem unusual to them. It did strike Cecil as strange that when the scientists had free time, they were not wearing their lab coats, but Carlos did wear his. Maybe he was just more dedicated to Science than they were?

Not that Cecil didn’t love Carlos and all his lab coats. He truly did, as Carlos in a lab coat was his favorite type of Carlos. Though, admittedly that had to do with how he only ever saw Carlos with a lab coat since he was fairly certain he would also love a non-lab-coated Carlos just the same. It was intriguing, though, and the more he thought about it, the more alluring the idea of Carlos wearing something else was to him.

Suddenly Carlos turned around and looked at Cecil, still with the closet chart in his hand. "I heard that you are doing a scientific inquiry as to whether or not I am always wearing lab coats" he said and sighed, before continuing "While I am impressed that you are exploring a hypothesis and I'm intrigued at being studied in a scientific way, I wish you had just asked me."

A bit embarrassed, partly at the fact that he had not considered that Carlos' team would let him know that Cecil had contacted them for something not work-related and partly because he should have just asked, Cecil was about to apologize when Carlos continued: "Your hypothesis is correct. Statistically speaking, I wear lab coats 99.7 percent of time, approximately." He waved the chart around a bit. "Did you know that I have a lab coat for any occasion, no matter how unlikely the scenario is? The multicolored one with the polka dots is for a possible company picnic. The bright scarlet one is in case I ever run for Mayor. The simple, black one is in case I ever get married..." he paused and looked away shyly for a second before continuing his monologue. "I wanted to tell you why, but I haven't been able to find the words or a situation where telling, or rather showing, you would be less terrifying. As you know, everything is terrifying, but this is... more than usual."

Cecil got up from the bed and walked over to Carlos. He wasn’t used to see the scientist that insecure and that made him worried. He put his hands on Carlos’, though he was still holding onto the clipboard from the closet, and said “I’m sorry for snooping around. I really don’t want to push you into telling things you don’t want to tell. I know that our lives are not as secret as we think they are in Night Vale, but you still deserve to keep your secrets as secret as they can possibly stay around here.” Carlos nodded, before pulling his hands back a little, turning around and putting the clip board up where it usually was hanging. He took a deep breath before he started talking again; “I know nothing in this world is permanent and that all relationship are temporary relationships, but I had hoped that this - that we - would be… less so.” He turned around again and looked at Cecil. “And I know Night Vale is a strange place in which strange things happen and condos are black, strange pulsing boxes giving visions of perfection, but I still fear that some day you will look at me and the chemistry will no longer line up and I just want to avoid doing anything to speed up that process. But… I might as well show you now.”

“Show me wh--” Cecil was cut off as Carlos began to do something he had dreamt of seeing Carlos do for ages: slide his labcoat off his shoulders.

“You should move closer,” Carlos said, “I’ve graphed out the area of the rooms to the smallest square inch, and while this room is the best to show you, it would be best if you were closer to me. To fully understand the scale.”

“Scale?”

“Scale. I’ve got it all measured out precisely,” Carlos nodded towards the clip board, “the number of graphs and data I have on this one topic alone is really quite impressive, though I suppose as there is no one who knows, me being the one with all the data and graphs and other such science-y thin--”

“Carlos, what are you saying?”

“Sorry, I’m just nervous.” Carlos explained, voice slightly shaking, in the way that the opposite side of a coast would ripple when something makes a splash in the opposite side of the coast. “And I’m not trying to say anything. I’m trying to _show_ something.” And then the lab coat fell to the floor.

“Carlos, while not knowing or understanding are two thin--” Cecil stopped short when he first saw purple. He tried and stopped multiple times as the purple kept growing and growing, seeming from behind Carlos. The purple was distinctly feather-like, and the form it took was distinctly wing-like. He silently watched, speechless except for a “Oh Carlos” every now and then as the feather-like, wing-like shape that seemed to grow from behind Carlos enclosed around him and seemingly filling up the entire room.

“Wha--what are these?” Cecil asked the same time as Carlos sheepishly said, “Sorry, they’re so big, they expand pretty large if I haven’t opened them up in a while.”

“Them?”

“My wings.”

Cecil looked at Carlos, dumbfounded at the sheer size of the wings. He had no idea how on earth Carlos managed to keep them underneath his lab coats and he just stood there, alternating between staring at the wings and Carlos’ face. Then Carlos said, “You can touch them, if you want.”

Cecil lifted his hand slowly and laid it on Carlos’ right wing. The purple feathers were soft at the touch and he could feel Carlos’ eyes at him as he stroked the wings. “They are _remarkable_.” Cecil said before he looked Carlos in the eyes and added, “Just like the person they’re attached to.”

Carlos smiled and let out a little sigh of relief, and then Cecil stepped closer and hugged him tight. Carlos, a bit taken aback at the sudden hug, fluttered his wings about the room a little, causing Cecil’s alarm clock to fall off the nightstand and onto the floor with a little bang.

“They’re not like angel wings.” Cecil pointed out, while taking a step back from the hug to look at Carlos’ face again. “Which I am grateful for, because angels aren’t real and I would be very dissatisfied if I had to adapt to you being not real.”

“I am quite real.” Carlos responded, still smiling. The wings were still fluttering slightly. Cecil looked at them and added “I’m amazed that you can fit those underneath the lab coats. Though this explains why you never sleep on your back.” Carlos, still relieved at his beautiful boyfriend’s beautiful reaction, responded “They are quite foldable, actually. It’s just a matter of calculating the amount of space needed to make them as flat as possible, and… Well, as I said, I did the science and calculations. But it does feel good to have them out for once.”


	2. not to acknowledge the existence of angels or anything, but my boyfriend can fly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alternative title: Old Oak Doors C, or "the Reunion, as written by us before it actually happened".
> 
> Written sometime after "Old Oak Doors B" and before "Review", here's Cecil going through an old oak door to find his winged scientist boyfriend.

The old, creaking door opened and Cecil could only stare at his Carlos. He had been able to see him, yes, holographically, at least. But because he knew Carlos wasn't actually there, it only made those times have an even greater sense of longing for the time he and his Carlos would and could be together again, properly.

"Hi, I missed you." Carlos said somehow both sheepishly and excitedly. But Cecil only kept staring. Carlos was slightly above the ground, his purple wings flapping slightly and Cecil ran, jumped into Carlos' arms and they held each other, standing right there in the desert of the desert otherworld happy to finally _finally_ be able to touch, hold and be held by his Carlos. Obviously, he couldn't mention any of this to his listeners, but he had listened to the conversation when Carlos first told him about his wings many times since Carlos had been forced to remain in the desert other world. (Cecil, being a radio host, records everything in his life at any time.) His wings were such an intrinsic part of Carlos and now he was finally able to fully be himself, spreading the wings out fully, metaphorically and literally. Suddenly Cecil didn't seem to mind this desert otherworld as much anymore. And upon seeing the wings unfolding, he suddenly understood why Carlos had wanted to stay, too. A bang of guilt hit him because he hadn’t realized that until now, though he didn’t say anything about it. Instead, he said “I missed you, too.”

“I’ve been waiting to ask this for a long time”, said Carlos while grinning bigger than he normally would, “Do you want to fly with me?” Cecil wasn’t quite sure how that would work on a technical, scientific level. Maybe it was because he wasn’t the scientist of the two, but he was pretty sure that the wings on Carlos’ back weren’t big enough to carry two people. They were big, yes, but since Carlos had been gone he had been reading on the internet about birds and their wingspan compared to their body and tried to Scientifically apply it to Carlos. Oddly enough, his favorite Bird Encyclopedia was one of the few websites not banned by the city council, though the knowledge of birds was occasionally erased whenever they decided that people shouldn’t know about them.

But Carlos was looking at him, and was looking so happy with his bigger-than-usual smile and they were hovering, still mid-hug, so he replied, "Yes Carlos. That would be neat."

Carlos held him a little closer and told him to please hold on tight. Cecil barely had time to move his arms around Carlos' neck before Carlos flapped his wings and they took off into the air. Flying higher and higher with a remarkable speed before suddenly switching direction and taking off straight ahead. Cecil had flown before, of course, but that was in a government sanctioned helicopter and this was another experience altogether. Cecil honestly wasn’t sure if he was more thrilled or terrified. Nor was he sure if the butterflies in his stomach was because he was finally this close to his dear Carlos again or if they came from the adrenaline he got from flying. Either way, he was convinced that the butterflies were somehow partly the reason they were airborne. The two of them flew around for a while and then Cecil noticed the lighthouse on top of the mountain that he had been in on his last, brief trip to the Desert Otherworld. Cecil thought for a small moment that they were going to crash into it when they took another sharp turn upwards and then landed on the roof.

“The lighthouse has, scientifically, the best view.” Carlos said before sitting down. “And I really wanted you to see this.” Cecil sat down next to him, unsure about what he was supposed to be seeing. Carlos looked over and said, “Your hair is longer.”

Cecil had to think about it for a second, but then he realized he hadn’t actually cut his hair since Carlos accidentally moved to the parallel dimension desert. Surprisingly enough, Carlos looked exactly the same as the last time he saw him. “Yours isn’t.” he responded, not completely able to conceal his surprise at the fact.

“Things are weird here.” said Carlos “And scientifically interesting. I tried to do experiments on my hair, but even if I cut off a bit of it, it ended up growing back overnight - exactly the same as it was before I cut it. My experiments all turn out extremely inconclusive. It’s scientifically frustrating.” He stopped suddenly, leaned his head down to rest it on Cecil’s shoulder and then just said; “Oh, it’s starting. Look at that sunrise!”

Cecil looked at Carlos one short second before looking up at the magnificent, but surprisingly quiet, sunrise. It didn’t make any sort of noise, it was slightly unsettling. Even the quietest sunrises in Night Vale would make small noises, sort of like a slightly small dog exhaling shortly in relief. This sunrise was completely and utterly silent. Cecil stared at it in confusion, even though he knew he wasn’t supposed to stare directly at the sun, and he had no idea what to say about such a strange occurrence. It almost made him want to apologize for all the items and insults he had hurled at the sun in the past.

But he didn't offer the sun any apologies. Nor did he ask for an explanation for the odd silence of the sun from Carlos. Instead, he looked over at the scientist, who was still resting his head on his shoulder, and simply said: "I missed you."

Carlos looked up, his wings flapping slightly before moving closer, putting his arm - and his wings - around Cecil and responded, with no scientific nonsense; "I missed you, too."

**Author's Note:**

> Fic title is a paraphrasing from Douglas Adams, the first chapter title is part of a Cecil Day Lewis quote and the second chapter was something @zoe_ena came up with that was funny enough to stick with this.


End file.
